The Convergence
by Dan Guerra
Summary: Doug Philips and Tony Newman, still trapped in time, encounter another time traveler with an incredible and dangerous device, one that could finally return them home.
1. Chapter 1

The Convergence

"One more baby, c'mon, one more..."

The dealer threw down a three of spades, "Yes!" Thomas did a small fist pump. Now he had a 20. Whew, now maybe his luck would change. The blackjack dealer was showing an ace, that could be good or bad. But a 20 was always a good hand. Then it was time for the dealer to show his card, it was a queen of diamonds. "Ohhhh I'm sorry everybody!" Thomas sunk, he rolled his eyes heavenward, why why? After a heavy sigh, he thought, okay one more and then I'm outta here, he was down to his last four chips anyway, nickels...nickels meaning five dollar chips. An hour earlier he had stacks of them.

He glanced around the table and noticed the man at the other end, he was staring again. Earlier, after a few furtive glances, he would meet the man's eyes and he would look away, and here he was staring again. What's with this guy?

He had also noticed two guys in the casino that seemed oddly out of place. They were walking around with concerned looks on their faces, looking around, as if they were looking for someone they had lost. One guy was dressed in a green turtleneck sweater, the other wore a tweed suit with narrow lapels, like they were right out of the 60's. Hmm, maybe they were security guys in a very bad attempt at looking undercover.

Another hand was being dealt, two kings, yes! Another good hand. He tucked the cards under his two chips, indicating 'stay'. The dealer was showing a jack....the guy at the other end was staring again, jeeez, this guy, he was starting to give him the creeps, he wanted to loudly say, "Yes, can I help you?"

The dealer flipped his card, it was an ace. Thomas leaned back in his chair, "Gawwwd!" It was as if a higher power was controlling the cards, trying to teach him a lesson, 'you shouldn't gamble, the money you lost tonight could have been given to charity'. But he waved his conscience away.

He looked over and the guy was looking right at him...again...and with a wry smile the man shrugged, as if to say, 'oh well'. Then the man glanced in the direction of the two security guys from the 60's and his smile quickly faded to a look of concern, and fear. Without even picking up his chips he left the table and walked away at a hurried pace.

"Doug! I think I see him!" the green turtlenecked guy shouted, and they both ran in the direction of the strange man who had been at the table.

What was all that about? Thomas wondered...anyway, he was done, he took his two remaining chips and left. He decided to go back to his room, watch some tv, hit the hay and maybe contemplate on what his conscience was telling him.

"General! I think I've got a fix!" Ann almost seemed frantic...and exited, "they're here! I've got them! Las Vegas, Nevada..."

"They're in Vegas? That's just down the road from here!" Ray shouted.

"Wait a minute...yes...Las Vegas...the year is...2009!"

"Good God! Twenty oh nine!?! that's over forty years from now!"

"Can you get a visual?"

"Hang on, okay...yes, here we go..."

The panorama of the Las Vegas Strip appeared in the Tunnel.

"Oh my, look at that place! It looks like New York!"

"It IS New York, there's the Empire State Building!"

"No, no...it's a conglomeration of buildings...and look at that pyramid!"

"Can you get a fix on Tony and Doug?"

"Yes, coming through now..."

After some static, the image changed, Tony and Doug were racing through a vast casino, they ran as if they were chasing someone.

"Look at that place! Well I guess some things never change."

"Why are they running? Who are they after?"

Thomas decided to have a drink at the bar before returning to his room. He ordered a gin and tonic. There was a baseball game on the widescreen tv, he settled in to his chair with a certain inner joy, nothing like watching the ballgame.

"Who's winning?" It was that strange man again who had been staring at him at the blackjack table. He had sat down next to him.

"Are you following me?"

"Well, yes and no."

"Who the hell are you? are you some kind of stalker?"

"No, no, please...just listen to me please..."

The man had a strange accent, British maybe, Dutch? no, it was different, with strange inflection and diction, but it was English anyway. And he seemed a bit desperate.

"I have traveled a very long distance, I have come to give you something."

"Give me something? I don't even know you."

"Yes, I know....but I know you..."

"What?"

"Your name is Thomas Matson."

He stiffened, "Who the hell are you? Are you a cop? I haven't done anything!"

"No, no, no, nothing like that..." The man kept glancing around as if he was being watched.

"My name is Robert Hodges. Remember those two fellows in the casino? The odd looking ones..."

"oh yeah, those guys"

"Well, they were looking for me, they're after this."

He produced a small unit that looked like a cel phone or a blackberry, but not quite, it was an odd circular shape, and it had gem-looking things on it that pulsed in a soft green light.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a Time Machine! I'm a time traveler."

"A time machine..." Thomas rolled his eyes. "yeah sure...whatever you say, pal."

"No! No it's true!"

Thomas started to get up from his chair as the two strange guys dressed from the 60's entered the bar.

"Tony! There he is!"

Hodges bolted from his chair and raced out of the bar, the two men raced after him...What the hell is going on? Thomas thought...well this was all too crazy, he didn't need this, he went up to his room.

"Ann? What have you got?"

"I don't know, it's crazy, Tony and Doug seem to be chasing some guy..."

"Who are they chasing?"

"I don't KNOW who they're chasing, General. But we have them, they're in Las Vegas, 2009"

"okay, thank you Ann...at least we know they're nearby."

"yeah they're nearby, but 41 years from now", Ray said..."at least we know Vegas is still gonna be around!"

"if they're this close in proximity, maybe we can get a fix on Tony and Doug themselves and get them back here to this time..."

Thomas laid in bed, but he couldn't sleep, the events with that strange guy who said he had a time machine, what nonsense...but he knew his name! What was up with that??...

Ironically, he had always thought about time travel, he loved the idea of going back and just 'visiting'...having grown up watching black and white movies from the 40's and earlier, he had always wished to go back and just see...just to see what it was like back then...in living color...

And he thought of the ironic nature of time. He remembered a job interview he was late to, due to traffic, and figured he had blown it because he was late, and figured he might as well turn around...but he went to the interview anyway, and he was hired! That split second of time, when he decided not to turn around had changed his life.

He thought of the waitress in the casino earlier, carrying a tray of drinks when a drunk crashed into her, spilling the tray, the look on her face said that she was done with this and she walked out...now she might go on to a better life. But had it been one or two seconds earlier or later, the drunk would never have crashed into her, and she would carry on as she had...for who knows how long...He was amazed at how all of these simple random moments in time, everywhere, all the time, can have such a profound and sometimes permanent effect. He wondered what it would really be like to be a time traveler. Someone would need to be extremely adaptable, resourceful, and be able to blend in, in a completely strange and unfamiliar environment. Probably like traveling through a foreign country perhaps, where language, money, and social mores and behavior were different. It would depend on where and when one traveled of course, in some places it would be extremely hard not to stick out like a sore thumb... like that weird guy, ha!... and sometimes it would probably be downright dangerous! If he had his choice, he'd want to visit Hollywood in the 20's...he smiled wistfully to himself.

There was a knock at the door.

"oh no" It was either that time travel geek or those other two weird guys, he decided to just lay in bed and ignore it. The knocking became urgent and forceful. "Mr. Matson? Mr. Matson, please!"

Thomas looked through the peephole, it was the time travel guy, and he kept knocking...

He opened the door, "You again? Will you please leave me alone!!"

"Mr. Matson, please...one minute, just one minute...I knew you probably wouldn't believe me, I need you show you something else, so that you WILL believe me!"

"What?"

"May I come in?"

With a huge sigh, Thomas gave a grand gesture inviting him in.

He produced an old newspaper, it was definitely old, it seemed authentic enough, the date was October 19, 1947.

"Look closely at that picture."

It was a picture of some public event, and in the background were two men, the same men he had seen earlier. Wearing the same clothes.

"oh my god."

"Those men are Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, they are time travelers as well."

"What?"

"Look closer at the picture, look at the man on the left."

Thomas looked and he gasped, he was looking at a photo of himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony and Doug had tumbled through the time vortex as they had many times before. This time, they landed on hard pavement and up against the side of a building. Getting up slowly, aching and sore from landing on such a hard surface. They looked around.

"Well, it looks modern enough." Tony observed.

"Yeah, but where? or when?"

It was night, and the air was warm and arid. They were in a large parking area, near a massive high-rise building. With all the service bays and trash dumpsters, they appeared to be in the rear of the building. Although it was dark out, there was an ambient glow in the sky, illuminated by city lights, LOTS of city lights.

They walked along the building, making their way to the front.

"Tony, look at those cars."

There were dozens of cars parked in the lot. Most of them had a similar aerodynamic shape, some were large station wagon type vehicles, some older models they actually recognized from the 60's. "Look at that one, must be a Volkswagen."

"Yeah I recognize the shape, it looks like an updated version. Well we're definitely in the future. But maybe not too far, otherwise these cars would have wings!"

Doug chuckled, "Yeah...I see a Buick over there, from our time, and look, a 57' T-Bird, looks to be in pretty good shape!"

They walked along the side of the building, on an extended driveway while avoiding an endless stream of cars entering the lot. They began to see a cascade of neon displays, giant marquee screens with televised images along a massive boulevard with traffic and pedestrians. They were overwhelmed by the sight of it all. "Is this Paris? There's the Eiffel Tower!"

"No, this can't be Paris, the tower is too small, it's a replica." Suddenly an eruption of water sprang out of the lake across the street, fountains danced accompanied by classical music.

"Is this where I think it is?" Tony said as he took it all in.

"Yep...look at the license plates, Nevada....and look over there." Doug pointed to a large hotel, The Flamingo.

"Holy smokes! Ray would love THIS."

"Yeah, this is Vegas...but what year? I guess we'll find out soon enough. Let's go."

As they made their way through the crowd, Tony realized something. "Doug, if we're in Vegas, then we're not too far from the base!...from the Time Tunnel!"

"Yeah, that's true, but if we're in the future, we don't know if it's still there, they were ready to shut us down, remember? The whole place could be filled with sand by now. Look for a newsstand, let's find out what year this is."

"What about Hodges, do you think he's here?"

"Well, ever since he stole that temporal device, he seems to keep showing up wherever we go."

Thomas Matson kept staring at the photo. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "This can't be...this can't be me."

"Oh, but it IS you. The article is about an incident that happened in northern Michigan. It seems there was a...a UFO incident, not long after Roswell. It caused quite a stir."

"Time machines, now UFO's...What is all this? Who ARE you?"

"I told you, Mr. Matson. I'm a time traveler."

Thomas could only shake his head in exasperation.

"Look, how about if I show you."

He took out the strange looking object. He held it his palm as it pulsated in green. Slowly the top of the object started to open, like a cel phone. There was a small screen and and a keypad, it was very much like a phone. He handed it to Thomas.

"What time is it now?" Hodges asked.

The digital clock on the nightstand said 11:46 PM.

"Now, key in today's date, and set the time to...oh, say 9 PM"

Thomas followed his instructions. When it was all keyed in he said, "okay, now what?"

"When you push that green light on the side, you will still be in this room...but it will be 9 PM. To return to the present time, push the blue light below it."

Thomas stared at Hodges, then down at the device, then back at Hodges.

"Go on, it is quite painless."

A wave of nervousness overcame Thomas. He felt butterflies, not just from nerves, but from excitement and anticipation, as if he was about to do a bungee jump. But he was also very hesitant. He began to shake his head. "This is crazy."

"Go on, Mr. Matson...That is a time machine. Press the green light, and you will see."

"But..."

"Press it!!" Hodges became almost agitated and impatient.

As if he was taking a dare, he said defiantly, "all right, here goes." And he pressed the green light.

He felt a wave of dizziness, and surge went through his body, like a small electric shock. In an instant, Hodges vanished from the room, and the tv automatically changed from a newscast to the baseball game that had been on earlier. Thomas sat there frozen as his eyes darted around. He whispered "Holy shhhhit."

He stood up, walked to the chair where Hodges had been a moment before, and waved his hand around and felt the seat. He looked at the tv and remembered the same double play he had seen earlier. Then he looked at the clock...9:00 PM.

He went to the door and opened it, and looked down the hall in both directions. There was a hotel guest in the distance leaving his room. It wasn't Hodges. He went back in the room and looked around again. "Mr. Hodges?"...it was 9:01 PM, it occurred to him to look at his watch...it too said 9:01 PM.

"No way...no way. This must be some sort of hypnotic trick."

He decided to investigate. He left his room and headed for the elevator, half expecting to see Hodges pop out of nowhere and say 'surprise!', but there was no sign of him. He got in the elevator and hit the button for the lobby. When the doors closed a sense of claustrophobia overcame him. Also a mild sense of panic. He thought of Hodges just vanishing like that. Could this really be happening? Did he actually go back in time?

The elevator doors opened and he stepped out. He was down in the casino again and everything seemed as normal as can be. Hotel guests, gamblers and slot machines everywhere. Since casinos, like shopping malls, rarely have public clocks, he walked over to the bar. The ballgame was on down there too. He asked the bartender, "Excuse me, do you know what time it is?"

"yeah, it's uhh...about five after nine."

"oh, uhh..thanks."

"sure!"

Well the bartender couldn't have been hypnotized too, unless he was all part of one big illusion. Nine o'clock?? He still couldn't believe it. "If this is really nine, where was I then?" Then he realized that he was playing blackjack. He walked over to the area where he had been gambling earlier, and he literally froze from shock. He saw himself playing blackjack. He panicked, backing away slowly, then turned and headed quickly for the front doors.

Tony and Doug walked along the Strip. "Can you believe this place?" In front of the Flamingo they found a newspaper laying on a bus stop bench. "Look at this Tony, October 18, 2009!"

"2009!" They stared at each other and looked around them again.

"We're over 40 years in the future!"

"Yeah...well, what do we do now?"

"The base...we should go to the base! It still has to be there."

"Yeah the base is probably still there, but what about the Time Tunnel? Who would be there? Ann would be in her 70's by now, and Ray and General Kirk...well, they wouldn't be there."

"I know, but someone there would have to know about the Time Tunnel project."

"That project was top secret. Twelve stories underground, most people at the base didn't even know it existed. And how do we get there? It's over a hundred miles from here."

"We could hitch a ride from someone," Tony said as he glanced around at people.

"You mean just ask somebody, 'excuse me, could you give us a ride one hundred miles into the middle of the desert? Besides, it's a restricted area."

"We don't have our IDs, but they would know us. Someone would know who we are."

"Wait a minute, 'Dreamland' flights used to originate from right here in Vegas direct to the base. Maybe if we went to McCarran and found somebody who knows about the Dreamland flights...or KNEW about them."

"That could work, let's get to the airport."

"Right."

Just as they turned to start their walk to McCarran Airport, they noticed a harried looking man walking quickly in their direction, about 20 feet away. The man stopped abruptly as he noticed Tony and Doug, as they were both looking back at him. His eyes grew wide and a look of sheer terror filled his face. He quickly turned and ran back in the direction he had came. Tony and Doug looked at each other.

"Who was that?"

"I don't know. I've never seen him before. But he seemed to know US!"

They watched as the man ran into an entrance of the Flamingo further down the block.

"Hodges...he must be connected to Hodges somehow!"

"Yeah, let's go find him." They both quickly went into the main entrance of the Flamingo.

After seeing him self playing blackjack, Thomas was reeling, in a daze...instinctively, all he wanted to do was put as much distance between himself and the other...'him'.

So it must be true then, he thought. So this is what having a panic attack feels like. He headed out one of the side entrances of the casino, onto the sidewalk on Las Vegas Boulevard, among the crowds of pedestrians. He needed to breathe. He needed to walk...So it's really true, that thing really is a time machine! He had always considered himself open minded about such things, time travel, quantum physics, even UFO's...but THIS....Never in his life would he ever expect to experience it first hand. And it felt strange, as in a dream, or more like a waking nightmare. Although the people around him and all of the surroundings seemed completely normal, it just felt Wrong. He felt vulnerable, as if he somehow stood out, that it was wrong to be here, in a place that he didn't belong.

He took deep breaths, "okay, okay...it's all true then...I need to go back to the room." Then he saw them. The two men in the 60's get-ups. And they saw him too. He panicked and ran back. He ducked back into the casino and made his way quickly for the elevators, making sure to avoid the tables where 'he' was. He got to the elevators and pressed the call button. "c'mon...c'mon" he nervously glanced around, watching for those two guys, because he had noticed them coming back in. He watched for himself for that matter. He wondered if the other 'him' had spotted himself earlier. But retaining some of his logical mind, he realized if this was really three hours ago, he would have remembered seeing himself. The elevator dinged. "Thank God."

He got in the elevator, which he shared with a couple from Texas. He nodded hello to them, wondering if they 'knew'. He tried to act nonchalant, but he suspected that he oozed a sense of panic, but the couple chatted to themselves.

He thought of those two men. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips. He wondered why he had panicked when he saw them. They were chasing Hodges earlier, they wanted his device. They didn't seem angry or malicious, but more with a sense of concern and urgency. Did Hodges steal it from them? He thought he should go up to his room and get the device, come back down and seek them out, and return it to them. He would be a few hours in the past, but so what? What's a few hours? Then he would be done with it.

The elevator door opened and he walked to his room, when another wave of fear overcame him. "No, I can't do that! I can't stay here three hours in the past...because if I did, there would be two ME's!"

He entered his room and saw the device on the desk. The room was empty and the ballgame was still on. He remembered the instructions, 'press the blue light to return to the present time'. He picked up the device and breathed deeply..."here goes."

He pressed the blue button and felt the same mild shock. Hodges reappeared in the chair.

"Ah! Welcome back Mr. Matson! How was your trip?"


	3. Chapter 3

Tony and Doug entered the Flamingo through the main entrance, and headed for the side doors where the frightened stranger had entered. They looked around, scanning the casino floor. "I'll look over there, you head that way."

"Right"

Tony went down a main aisle, looking down rows of slot machines. Doug went in the direction of the casino tables, towards the main bar. No sign of the stranger. He circled around the tables, scanning as he went. Tony met up with him at the main aisle. "See him?"

"No, maybe he went up to a room, he could be anywhere."

"Who do you think he is?"

"I don't know...but he knew us." Doug thought of something just then. "Maybe he's with the base!"

"Maybe, but he's not that old, he'd be just a kid back then. And why would he run from us?"

"Yeah...well, maybe he IS with Hodges."

They continued looking around. As they walked along the blackjack tables, Tony said, "Do you think Hodges is here?"

"Here in this hotel? It's possible...we always seem to arrive within minutes of each other, and in close proximity."

They continued searching, when Tony spotted a middle aged man in a vintage suit, walking hurriedly away from one of the tables...it was Hodges.

"Doug! I think I see him!"

When he shouted, Hodges turned to look, and then took off running. Tony and Doug took off after him.

Hodges turned a corner and ducked into a row of slot machines, crouched down and continued moving. Tony followed him, "over here!" He looked along the rows of slots, then spotted a crouching figure moving into another row. "Hodges! Hodges don't run!" As they kept bumping in to people, they were beginning to attract attention. A security guard came forward. "What's going on?"

Doug said, "We're uh, we're looking for someone...he has something of ours."

"oh? did he steal something?"

Doug was annoyed by this delay, "Well, he uh..."

"There he is!" Tony took off in the direction of the elevators. Doug followed.

"Hey!" the security guard shouted, "you two stop!"

Hodges rounded a corner where a bank of elevators were, he noticed a door closing. He dashed over to try and squeeze in. A hotel guest noticed him and held the door for him. He slipped in and the door closed just as Tony came around the corner. Frustrated, Tony pounded on the call button as Doug joined him. They looked up and watched the display indicate 2,3,4...it kept going up.

"Well, at least we know where he is. He's gotta come down sometime."

Just then the security guard joined them. "You two!"

"That man stole something from us!"

"What did he steal?"

"Uh...a phone."

"A phone."

"Yes, and it's important we get it back!"

"Look, you don't just run around here like that! chasing people."

"He went into that elevator and he's somewhere up there!"

"Okay, okay, come with me and we'll get his description and we'll look for him."

Hodges tried to catch his breath in the elevator. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Well you're welcome! Looks like you ran a long way to catch this thing, haha!"

"ha!...yes."

It was an elderly couple in the elevator with him. The woman scrutinized his clothing."Are you from England?"

"Yes, uhh...London actually."

"ah! how nice." As the elevator stopped, the doors opened and the couple left. Thank God, he thought.

"Enjoy your visit!" The old lady waved with a nice smile.

"Yes, Thank you, you too." Hodges smiles too and sighed, if only he could enjoy it.

He was on the 11th floor. He decided to go up another floor, get off and find an elevator somewhere else on the floor, or the stairs. He had finally found Matson. He needed to go back down and locate him again. Newman and Philips couldn't have appeared at a worse time. He was so close.

He wandered the halls looking for another elevator. The hotel had two wings, so he knew there had to be another bank of elevators. After running through halls he finally found some, so he pressed the down button. What if they anticipated his move and were waiting for him in the lobby below? Or had split up and were waiting at both locations...or were they at the stairs? The doors opened and he decided to risk it and go down, he needed to find Matson again.

He held his breath as the doors opened to the lobby floor. Peering out, there was no sign of either, whew, good. This bank of elevators was off the casino area, along a corridor lined with shops and restaurants. He headed back to the casino, keeping a sharp eye out for Newman and Phillips, but mostly for Matson.

He passed a bar with a wide entrance, and spotted Matson sitting at the bar! He was nursing a drink and watching a baseball game. Hodges went in and sat on the stool next to him. "Who's winning?"

After speaking to Security, Tony and Doug went back to the elevators. "You think he's still up there?"

"Maybe, he'll probably come back down somewhere else. There must be other elevators, or he's taking the stairs." They looked at a display map of the hotel on the wall and found a second set of elevators, so they headed for them. Walking along a corridor they passed a bar, then they saw him, sitting with that stranger who ran from them earlier, so they were together after all, and he was showing him the device! "Tony! There he is!"

Hodges bolted from his seat and ran for the outside entrance to the bar, the one that led to the street. Tony and Doug dashed after him, leaving the stranger behind. Whoever he was, grabbing Hodges had priority.

Once on the street, Hodges ran back in the direction of the main entrance and slipped into the next available door. It was a Chinese restaurant connected to the hotel. He walked briskly to the other end of the room where the hotel entrance was, along that same corridor. Glancing back, he didn't see them coming in, he must have given them the slip again. He sat in a booth partially hidden by a large artificial plant. "Good evening sir. How are you this evening?" A waitress was placing a menu on the table. He was startled, distracted. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Just then he noticed Doug and Tony outside, through the windows facing the sidewalk. They were looking up and down the block. He begin to panic as they looked inside, through the windows. The waitress partially obscured their line of sight to him. "Sir? Are you alright?"

"Oh! Uhh...yes...sorry...umm, I'm waiting for someone.." He kept looking outside and saw Tony point down the street as they headed in that direction. "umm, may I have some water please?"

"Of course, sir...I'll be right back."

Hodges sat as his table after the waitress left, still scanning the windows for any sign of them. They must have moved on. He slipped out of his seat and left the restaurant, back into the hotel corridor. Peering back into the bar, he saw that Matson was no longer there. He could be anywhere now. Perhaps he was staying at this hotel. Cautiously he went to the front desk of the hotel lobby.

"Excuse me sir, a friend of mine checked in earlier, Thomas Matson. I was supposed to meet him here, would you happen to know his room number?"

"Let me check, yes Mr. Matson has checked in...your name please?"

"My name? Uhh..Hodges...Robert Hodges."

"Alright Mr. Hodges, would you like me to phone his room?"

"Well, can't you just give me his room number?"

"Uhh...no sir, due to security, we cannot do that now. Are you a guest here sir?"

" No..uhh, yes...well I haven't checked in yet."

"Would you like to check in now sir?"

"Umm, no not right now...I guess I'll wait for him in the lobby, thank you."

Oh damn, he thought...yes, he's here at the hotel, but what room? And what hotel wouldn't let a friend know his room number? Then he remembered what era he was in, especially after those horrid attacks in 2001. In his opinion, the terrorists had partially won that day. They had succeeded in creating a sense of fear that permeated into every sector of society. To the point where grannies were searched for bombs at airports, people were afraid that planes would crash into just about any public gathering, and friends could not even get a room number from a hotel clerk.

He thought about that fateful day on 9/11...he could have stopped them with the device, somehow...in some, well 'creative' way he could have. But that wasn't what the device was for. Quite the opposite in fact....The device was created to insure that all things happen they way they were supposed to happen in the flow of time. He had simply 'borrowed' the device. And now those two pesky time travelers, who he was somehow stuck with, they wanted it. Well, as soon as Matson goes back to 1947 and succeeds, everything will be fixed. All he needed to do was show him the newspaper clipping, and demonstrate the device, and that would convince him. He reached in his coat pocket to feel the clipping, but was shocked to discover that it was gone, "oh no!" It must have fallen out somewhere. Maybe at the blackjack table, or the bar where he had shown Matson the device. Or fallen out while he was running. Perhaps he could convince Matson without it. No, he needed visible proof, Matson needed to be completely certain...he needed to find that paper.

Ann had been concerned, after getting the coordinate fix on Doug and Tony in Las Vegas, 41 years in the future. They were chasing someone, but who? The man looked familiar to her. She began replaying previous visual recordings from some of their recent time jumps. After replaying the feeds from London in 1881, where Tony and Doug had been, she saw that same man again. "General! Come and look at this!"

Hodges had searched and searched for the paper, with no luck. Then he remembered his 'arrival' when he tumbled into a clump of bushes outside in the hotel pool area, it may have fallen out there! So he made his way outside. The pool was closed at that hour, it was past 11 PM already so there were very few people around. He found the spot where he had arrived, got on his hands and knees and searched all around, aided only by the floodlights that lit the area. Then he saw a light object on the ground among the bushes...there it was, "Thank God!"...He carefully placed it back in his pocket and returned to the hotel lobby. Knowing that Matson was a guest at this hotel, he wasn't concerned that it had taken him nearly two hours to find it. Nor was he that concerned that Newman and Phillips might show up again. He needed to find Matson. Re-entering the hotel, he had an idea.

He went to a house phone and picked it up, "Good evening, Flamingo Hotel and Resort, how may I direct your call?"

"Hello, I'm trying to reach a guest, Thomas Matson, he's in room 1437 I believe."

"One moment please...actually he's in room 1125, I'll ring him now."

"Oh I think I see him, thank you anyway!"

"You're welcome sir."

Well, that was easy, apparently the hotel didn't drill security policies into every employee equally. He didn't want to speak to Matson on the phone anyway, he'd probably just leave to avoid him. He headed up to Matson's room.


	4. Chapter 4

"General, come and look at this!" Ann had found something.

"What is it?"

"Remember that man Tony and Doug were chasing? I replayed the last three of their time jumps, and he's in all of them!"

"Who is he?"

"I don't know. But he's obviously a time traveler too."

"Look at this one. When Tony and Doug were in London, that...'guardian' or whoever he was, had given them some device, that's when we lost their signal."

"Yes I remember. He claimed he was from the distant future, a Time Guardian he said."

"Well, here's where we got another fix on them."

The view in the Tunnel was blurry for a moment, then the image cleared to reveal Tony and Doug in a room with Victorian décor. There was no sound, but they were obviously in a heated discussion with that same man they had recognized. They seemed to be negotiating, even arguing with him. The man was very agitated, gesturing wildly. He was holding that device. Tony took a few steps toward him and the man backed away, holding the device as if it were a weapon. Tony backed off...It was open and he was fumbling with it. A look of frustration and confusion filled his face. He looked at Tony and Doug, they were pleading with him to give them the device. Then the signal faded out to nothing but static.

"What is that thing?" Ray said.

"Maybe some sort of time mechanism."

"Well if the three of them are in Las Vegas, in 2009, then he still must have it."

"Yeah, and Doug and Tony still want it."

Robert Hodges sat in Matson's hotel room, glancing at the clock every few seconds. Fifteen minutes had passed since Matson vanished from the room on his first journey through time, albeit just 2 or 3 hours into the past. It was now 12:03 AM and he was starting to worry, the deadline was drawing near. "I should have told him not to take more than a few minutes." The tv was on, a sports news program had just started, showing highlights of the baseball game earlier. He shook his head. He never understood that game, why did they call it a 'World Series' anyway?

A slight hum filled the air with a fizz and crackle of electricity, and Matson suddenly reappeared in the middle of the room with eyes wide, a look of shock and confusion on his face. "Ah! Welcome back Mr. Matson! How was your trip?"

Matson could only stare at Hodges, he was speechless.

"Now do you believe me?"

"How...how did you get here?"

"I've been here all along, Mr. Matson, ever since you left...I've been sitting here waiting for you."

"But...those two guys, I saw them! And I saw...me."

"Yes of course you did, that was you...three hours ago, and that was Tony Newman and Doug Phillips...three hours ago."

Thomas stared down at the device in his hand, and quickly put it on the table, as if to rid himself of any further contamination of the mind.

Hodges firmly told him,"You went back in time, Mr. Matson."

"But...how?? How could there be...two Me's?

"Oh there is only one 'you'...you were observing yourself from another dimension in time, which you were in. Much like looking at yourself in a mirror, or seeing yourself on a video screen. There appears to be two 'you's'...but there is only one."

Thomas was still reeling, trying to make sense of it all. "But this wasn't a mirror! I saw him...er...me!"

"Yes, that was you, and the emphasis is in...WAS"

"Well if there's only one 'me'...what if I had walked up to the other 'me' and introduced myself?"

"I'm sure 'you' would have been quite alarmed, as would the other people at the table. Though they would probably assume you were twins."

Thomas was still in the realm of waking nightmare. He had always prided himself on his ability to cope. He had coped with grief, disappointment, danger, and loss with an inner stoicism. But never in his life did have to cope with something like this.

"Of course, in my experience, walking up and introducing yourself to yourself is something to be avoided."

"In your experience."

"Yes, Mr. Matson...in my experience. Oh...the things that I've seen, the places I have been. It's overwhelming. But now..." Hodges stared wistfully, as in a brief trance, from which he quickly recovered, then staring back at Thomas, almost sadly. "Now, I just want to go home."

Thomas noticed the melancholy in Hodges. "Well, why don't you use that thing and just go home?"

"I CAN'T!!" Hodges rose from his chair and grabbed the device. "Observe!" He opened the device and keyed in the same coordinates as before, then pressed the green button....nothing. He pressed again, and again in frustration but he didn't disappear. Nothing happened. "Damn! It's those two! Confound them!"

"You mean, that thing doesn't work for you? Then how did you get here?"

"I came with them! I seem to be stuck with them!...until now...now that you're here."

"Me? Hey...look buddy I'm sorry you're stuck, but..."

"We're running out of time Mr. Matson, you must go back to Michigan, to October 19, 1947 at exactly 1:05 AM, that's less than an hour from now."

"hoho..no..no way...I'm not going anywhere except to bed."

"you MUST go!" Hodges then composed himself, "...because you did go." He held up the newspaper clipping again.

Thomas sat down and sighed heavily, looking at the photo of himself, from 1947. "So...so what was I doing there?"

"You were there to fix things. Do you remember the Robinson family? The Jupiter 2?"

"The ones that took off in '97?"

"Yes, precisely."

"Yeah, well they were lost, they were never heard from again."

"In this article, it's a story about a flying saucer that appeared over northern Michigan in 1947. Alien invaders! they thought. It was a UFO alright, in the most literal sense, it was an unidentified flying object. And it landed right in the middle of a small town. The townspeople panicked of course, they thought they were under attack. But they were never under attack. It was the Robinsons!"

"What?"

"Yes, it's true! That flying saucer back in 1947 was the Jupiter 2! The Robinsons were wearing their metallic pressure suits, so the townspeople thought they were aliens...Voltones they called them, a term they got from a comic book...the idiots...there was a convergence that day."

"A convergence?"

"Yes! A convergence of time. You see, in my travels, I've learned some things about 'time'....how it works. Basically time is like a river that flows from the past to the future. But, as in a river, there are many flows and eddys in the current. No...no wait...it's not that simple. It's very complicated in fact, even I still don't completely understand it. A 'convergence' is....well, when two rivers or streams meet, to form a bigger stream. Water always flows in the path of least resistance, guided by gravity, yes?"

Thomas shrugged, "uh, yeah."

"Well, in the same way, Time flows in a steady stream. But there are disruptions."

"What do you mean, disruptions?"

"Disruptions of Time!" Hodges stood up and shouted, "That's why this was created!" as he held up the device.

"To stop IDIOTS like these!" He held up the paper in his other hand. "Those townspeople destroyed the Jupiter 2! They blew it up with their cannon! The ignorant savages! They ruined Everything!"

Hodges was in agitated state, almost rage, and Thomas was relieved of some of the personal misgivings about his own state of mind, compared to this guy at the moment.

"I'm sorry....I'm sorry..." Hodges calmed himself as he shook his head.

"Fools...they were ignorant fools...everywhere I go, no matter where, or when, always ignorant fools." he muttered, almost to himself.

At that moment, Thomas began to realize the extent of which this man had experienced, not just as a measure of what he himself had just experienced, but by the demeanor of the man himself, and what he must have truly experienced.

"Well..the Robinsons were lost."

"No...no they're not lost. They're right here on Earth."

"What?"

"They are right here on Earth...but they're not supposed to be here. You see, once it reached a certain speed out in space, the Jupiter 2 was caught in a vortex of time, some call it a 'wormhole' in which time is distorted. They found themselves back here on Earth, but it was 1947."

"Well, if the Robinsons returned, why wasn't it news back then?"

"It was hushed up, of course. As soon as the U.S. Military got wind of it, they swooped in...literally took over the town. After what happened in Roswell, the government seemed to be on their toes about such things."

"So...what happened to the Robinsons?"

"Well, after the Jupiter 2 was destroyed...not completely destroyed, mind you, but damaged enough by three cannon shots. Two rounds pierced the hull and did untold damage to the interior, one destroyed a landing gear. The ship would never fly again. The Robinsons, including their pilot, Major West, they were rounded up and put in the local jail...except for one...Smith. Ohh he was a conniver, that one!

When the Army arrived, they took the Robinsons, and West, into custody. Nothing was ever heard from them again. I would assume they were debriefed, given new identities and lived the rest of their lives in anonymity. I suppose Will and Penny are the only ones alive by now, they'd be in their 70's....wherever they are."

Even now, Thomas could still not grasp the enormity of what he had just experienced, nor what he was now hearing.

"So...so I need to go back there..."

"Yes! You must go back and make sure the Robinsons take off! THAT will correct everything. You must prevent the Jupiter 2 from being destroyed!"

"How am I supposed to do that?...Look...this has all been pretty bizarre pal...I think what I must do is hit the hay and ask you to get the hell out of my room."

Hodges seemed pensive, "Mr. Matson, are you happy with your life?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you have any regrets? Do you ever ponder about...what might have been?"

Thomas shrugged, "I suppose, doesn't anyone?"

"Yes, they do Mr. Matson. Most people do... Do you remember what happened on July14, 1982?"

A new chill arose within Thomas. And he glared at Hodges with a new level of fear and trepidation...and an inner pain that he had spent years trying to ignore, but was now ripped open.

On that date way back then, he had been a star pitcher at a Triple A ballclub, the San Jose Bees, he was an ace, with a blazing fastball and cutter...he was 'talent' back then, and he was on track to the Show...the Major Leagues. But after a game on that fateful night, a car went through a red light and smashed into the car he was riding in. He was in the passenger seat and his right arm literally went through the door. After several surgeries it was determined that he could never pitch again. It devastated him. But he 'coped'...He glared at Hodges with a sense of resentment. How dare he? How dare he know about such personal, painful things?

"How do you know about that?"

"I know, because I was there Mr. Matson. I was, well, following you in time."

"Following me! So you are a stalker!"

"No no no!" Hodges waved his hand, dismissing the notion, "Following you to this moment in time, because this is another Convergence. A convergence where Newman and Phillips, myself, and now YOU have indeed converged." He glanced at the clock...12:28...

"The reason I brought that up...was because, like the Robinsons who got stuck here, you got stuck too, in a way."

"What are you talking about?"

With a sense of urgency, Hodges said, "What I'm talking about Mr. Matson, is that if you go back and prevent those idiots from destroying the Jupiter 2, the accident you experienced will never take place! Your accident was a consequence, years down the road, after a series of consequence piled upon consequence, spinning out like in a spiral array. The Robinsons were supposed to take off that day!


	5. Chapter 5

Tony and Doug had run up and down the sidewalk, trying to spot Hodges. "No sign of him. Do you think he went back in?"

"Maybe...He was with that other guy, he was showing him the device."

"Yeah, at least that guy might be back at the bar, let's go!"

They ran back to the bar where they had seen Hodges and the stranger. Both of them were gone.

"Let's keep looking, they can't be far."

Thomas was still not completely convinced. "Look, I just went back a couple hours in time, and it freaked me out! Now you expect me to go back to...1947?"

"Yes, Mr. Matson. That's exactly what I expect."

"Why don't YOU go?"

"Because I can't, remember?" he said, nodding towards the device. "And besides, I need to remain here, during this Convergence. I'm...I'm supposed to meet someone."

"Who?"

"A Guardian. If all goes well and you succeed, a Guardian will arrive here in approximately two hours from now. We...have an exchange to make."

"Who is this Guardian?"

"A Time Guardian. You see, I am not the only time traveler, Mr. Matson, nor are Newman and Phillips. There are many, far too many perhaps. That's why this exists." He indicated the device again.

Thomas was trying to comprehend that startling bit of information. "Many?"

Hodges glanced at the clock, it was 12:45. "Yes, and there will be many more in the coming years. And there have been many attempts at time travel. Your own US Navy attempted it during World War 2, with disastrous results. The Philadelphia Experiment they called it."

"Disastrous? What happened?"

"You see, time travel is not impossible. Einstein proved it, time is fluid. Let's say you were in a room and the clock on the wall said 12 noon. If you were in a vehicle capable of the speed of light, and took off, the light wave showing the clock at 12 would still be with you. And if you went faster, the clock would show 11:59, 11:58...and so on. The enormous amount of energy it would take! But they found a way to harness that energy into a single vortex. They tried to transport one of their ships, USS Eldridge. For a few minutes it became invisible, but then it reappeared. The sailors on board had become fused to the metal on the ship. One man was sticking half in and half out of the bulkhead, the molecules of his body intermingled with the metal."

Thomas felt a little queasy.

"Newman and Phillips are part of another time travel project, developed during the 1960's. Their Time Tunnel was a partial success, but there are flaws. They are trapped in time, in an endless vortex, and now I'm trapped with them. I had invented my own machine, back in London in 1895 on basically the same principle. And with it, I've traveled to the future, and to the past. I am an explorer, if you will. In the year 2061, a man named Zephram Cochrane invented...or, will invent, the Warp Drive, a powerful engine. It will enable vehicles to travel at the speed of light, and beyond! New planets, and other races will be discovered. A federation of planets will be established. There's a whole frontier out there Mr. Matson!"

Thomas was fascinated by his story. "You've seen all this?"

"Oh I haven't traveled in space. No, my concern is only what happens right here on our little Earth. Well, these warp drives are basically time machines in themselves, vehicles are able to bend time around them, allowing them to travel great distances. As a result, time travel will become almost commonplace! But with it, inherent problems."

"Problems?"

"Oh my, yes. With more and more people jumping around in time, some of them interfere with certain events in their pasts, thereby altering the proper Timeline. Events that were supposed to happen in history were prevented from happening, or other events were made to happen that shouldn't have."

Thomas' head was swimming. "Well, how do you know what's supposed to happen and what isn't?"

"There is an equilibrium in the universe, Mr. Matson. Again, like a river, time has a predetermined flow. Disrupting this flow, like building a dam in the wrong place, can lead to disaster. It became imperative that these disruptions be corrected. A Temporal Council was developed, and they invented these." He pointed to the device. "A council of Time Guardians were sent to various points in time to prevent roguish time travelers from altering the Timeline. Oh, some of them meant well I suppose. Once the technology was well established, someone sent the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz from the year 1980 back to December 6, 1941...in an effort to prevent World War Two!"

"What?"

"It's true! It was a rouge Guardian. He believed that if one of the worst disasters in world history could be prevented, then that should be the true Timeline. But he was wrong. The Nimitz found themselves back in 1941 alright, they even engaged a few Japanese Zeros, which were no match for F-14s of course. The Nimitz was ready to unleash her nuclear might against the Japanese Navy just before their attack on Pearl Harbor."

"What happened?"

"There was somewhat of an attempted coup among the Guardians, but it had failed. A time vortex was sent to 1941 to bring the Nimitz back to its own time, just before the attack."

"Well, how did they know? How did they know that letting the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor was a...a good thing?"

"Not a 'good thing' Mr. Matson, but a necessary thing. Preventing the attack would have kept the US out of the war. The Guardians knew about World War Two. From a similar incident that occurred five years earlier, with a woman named Edith Keeler."

"Edith Keeler?"

"She was a peace activist in the 1930's. And oddly enough, another time anomaly had occurred, involving her. Those Federation ships I was telling you about, with their warp drives. One of them discovered an ancient civilization on a distant planet, with a time machine of its own. A civilization that destroyed itself, because of that very machine. Some crew members stumbled through that machine and found themselves back on Earth, in 1936. The captain of that ship, Captain Kirk I believe...he prevented Edith Keeler from being run over by a truck. She went on to form a peace movement that kept the US from entering the war, and as a result, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis WON World War Two! thereby altering the Timeline irreparably. Fortunately this crew was astute enough to see their mistake, and corrected it themselves, they had to let Edith Keeler die."

"So...what are you doing with this? Are you one of these 'Guardians'?"

"Um...no. But in my travels, they must have somehow...seen me. Or noticed me. I had always been acutely aware of the necessity to not interfere, just observe, I was always careful to never leave a 'footprint'. On one excursion I arrived in northern Michigan." He held up the newspaper. "That's where I got this!"

"I wondered where you got that! So if you were back there, why didn't you prevent the Jupiter 2 from being wrecked?"

"I was a day late! The Jupiter 2 had already been destroyed, and the Robinsons were in custody. And those fools! They found my machine! I had always taken care to hide it, it's about the size of a small car, you know. Not as convenient as that device. It was in a wooded area, outside of town."

"So they found your machine?"

"Yes! And they destroyed it! The ignorant fools! In their hysteria, they thought it was an alien device, most likely property of the Robinsons. They smashed it to bits with sledge hammers and pick-axes. My beautiful machine." Hodges was genuinely sorrowful. Thomas actually felt some sympathy for this obviously painful sense of loss, because he knew about loss.

"I had blended in well enough, I didn't think the townspeople would suspect me. But I was terrified...I had no way of getting home! I was near my poor machine, hiding in the woods, when someone approached. He told me not to be afraid. He looked like a normal citizen, dressed in regular clothes of the time. He told me he was a Time Guardian. And he showed me that device."

Thomas just stared, mesmerized by what he was hearing. Hodges glanced at the clock again, it was 12:59...six minutes left.

"We haven't got much time left...the Guardian had known about me, he somehow was watching me, jumping through time. And he knew I was a 'candidate' to be a Guardian myself! Because he had appreciated that I always took care to leave no mark in time. I was being recruited...and as a test, he gave me that device, to go back one day and prevent those fools from destroying the Jupiter 2!"

"So why didn't you do it??"

"Something happened when I pressed those buttons. He instructed me on how to use it, just like I did with you...but when I pressed them, I found myself tumbling, weightless, in a nether region of time and space...neither here nor there...lights were zooming past, as if I were in a tunnel, traveling at light speed and beyond, and yet I felt motionless, just floating...it was terrifying.... And then, I spotted two men about 200 feet ahead of me, they were tumbling as well."

Thomas was beginning to get the story, "Those two men..."

"Yes! That was Newman and Phillips! I got caught in their vortex! We tumbled and tumbled, helpless. And then I landed in a grass field, and soon realized I was back home! In London!"

"So you got back home then!"

"YES!...and no, I was home, but I was too early...a few years too early. The device I had was gone... I went back to my house, only to discover myself there, just as you had discovered yourself in the casino earlier...It wasn't my time, I couldn't return to my own house, because I was already there, me in the past. I was confused and petrified."

"What about Newman and Phillips?"

"Oh they landed too! I saw them...and I followed them around London. And then HE came again! The Guardian...he gave them this same device! I suspect he was watching them too, and was trying to enlist them as well...Later on, I approached Newman and Phillips in a most cordial way, I invited them to my home, knowing when the actual 'me' wouldn't be there. I offered them a brandy, and when Newman set the device down on the table, I quickly picked it up...I tried to explain to them why I needed it! I tried to explain my entire story! I just wanted to go home again to my real time! I tried to use the device, but it didn't work...so I ran out of the house, and I kept running...I knew the hiding places around there, so Newman and Phillips wouldn't find me."

"So you stole it then!"

"I only borrowed it!...as soon as I returned to my time, I would have gladly returned it. But after the device didn't work, I realized being stuck with them in their vortex had somehow negated its power. We found ourselves floating again, in the vortex. We landed in 1982, the day of your accident. It was during that time that I realized something. I took out that newspaper again and recognized you, and those two in the photograph. I realized that YOU must go back in time to Michigan, in 1947! Then we jumped again, and landed on a mysterious island in the Pacific. It seemed to have its own time vortex...strange place. We were only there for an hour. Then we jumped again, to right here in Las Vegas. That's when I saw you, and I knew this was the Convergence!"

Thomas was still trying to take it all in. He had gone back in time, that much was true. But all the way to 1947! And Hodges knew about the accident! What if...?

"There's only three minutes left, Mr. Matson, then the window will close!" He held out the device and implored, "Will you do it?"

"So...how will I know what to do?...uh..."

"The cannon...disable it somehow."

"Couldn't I just go to the sheriff? Explain it to them?"

"No, he's a buffoon. He would never believe you. In fact, he would probably think you were in league with the Robinsons."

"So if I did this...no accident in 1982?"

"No accident, Mr. Matson. Think of the possibilities. Call it fate, destiny, even luck...being in the right place at the right time. All caused by random events in time. There are things that might happen, and there are things that MUST happen." He handed Thomas the device, and he took it.

"I've preset the coordinates, now...just key in the time, 1:05 AM, October 19, 1947."

Thomas started entering the date. "What about those two?"

"They will be joining you there Mr. Matson. They don't know it yet, but that is their next jump." The clock said 1:04.

"But, you said you're stuck with them."

"Not if you go in my place, at exactly the right moment."

The clock turned to 1:05. "Time to go Mr. Matson. If you succeed, I'll see you one more time. Good luck to us all."

They shook hands. Thomas took a deep breath, pressed the green button, and vanished from the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Ann was squinting at the Tunnel screen, an image kept fading in and out. Then the image became clear. "General! I've got them again!" They watched as Tony and Doug wandered through the casino, still searching.

"Looks like they lost him."

Ray thought of something. "Ann, see if you can get a fix on HIM, look for any anomaly nearby, since he seems to be traveling with Tony and Doug."

After adjusting frequencies, Ann shook her head. "Nothing...oh...wait, there's a spike here in the wave pattern, hang on....Yes! I have something!"

Ray, General Kirk, and Ann all looked up at the screen in unison. The image came in to focus. It was the traveler, he was in a hotel room, sitting by himself watching television.

"He's got a room there?"

"It appears so."

"Who IS he?"

Static suddenly filled the screen, for only about 3 seconds, then the image reappeared to reveal a second man standing in the room, looking frightened and confused. He was holding that device.

"Good God!"

"Who is THIS now? Can you get any sound?"

"No General, there's some interference..."

"Maybe from that device. So it is a time travel, or teleportation device."

They watched as the man seemed to be explaining something to the man who had just arrived, showing him an old newspaper. "It looks like he wants him to travel somewhere."

"Ann, see if you can triangulate their coordinates with Tony and Doug's, maybe we can get a fix on all four of them. They must be in the same hotel."

Tony and Doug had wandered around the casino area for at least a half hour. "I don't know if we'll find him here. Maybe we should head to the airport again and see about the Dreamland flights."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Hodges will probably show up anyway, like he always does. Okay, let's head over there."

They walked out of a side entrance onto a service alley. And in an instant, they were back in the vortex again, tumbling through time.

Thomas Matson found himself in an orchard, in the middle of the night. From a few lights in the distance, he could see there was a town, about two hundred yards away. The night was chilly, compared to the warm desert air of Las Vegas. I wish I brought my jacket, he thought, since he was dressed in dockers and a polo shirt. He shivered, not just from the cold, but from the prospect of suddenly being somewhere far away...very far away. Was this really Michigan in 1947? "Oh jeeez..." he said with a moan. He shook his head in bemusement, he couldn't believe what he had just done. He was still holding the device, his first instinct was to press the blue button and return to his hotel room. But then he thought of all that had happened, how Hodges knew about him, knew about his accident in 1982. He closed the device and put it in his pocket, and started walking towards the town.

Tony and Doug tumbled onto a lawn. They were in the front yard of a mid-century ranch style home. As they got up and looked around, they could see it was a small town, and from the parked cars along the street, they could tell they were still in America, but some time in the past. "I wonder if Hodges is here."

They started walking along the road, dimly lit by streetlamps. "Looks to be around the 40's or 50's...that was a '47 Plymouth back there, it looked new" Doug said. In the distance, they saw the silhouettes of two men armed with hunting rifles. Quickly they ducked behind a car. They could barely hear what the men were saying, but they did hear some parts of their conversation...something about killing 'voltones'.

"What are they talking about? What are Voltones?"

"I don't know, but if they have armed patrols out here at this time of night, they must be scared of them."

They slowly rose from behind the car and continued down the street, keeping an eye out for any more of these 'patrols'. There was a glow coming from a brighter area around the corner, perhaps a main street in the town. As they rounded the corner, they saw that it was a sawmill, which was floodlit on the other side of the main building. They made their way around the building, and froze in their tracks...stunned. In the parking lot of the sawmill, there stood a massive saucer shaped object, perched on three legs, like landing gear, with a rotating diode underneath that was synchronized with a similar rotation on the top of the saucer. With small windows and hatches, this was obviously a vehicle, but certainly not of this time. "I think we found those Voltones."

Thomas walked out of the orchard and onto a small one-lane road leading into the town. He was tired and he was hungry. There was nothing he could do tonight, it was probably getting close to 2 AM. Maybe he could find a place to rest until morning. He spotted a barn with the door slightly open, there was a soft glow coming from within it. Cautiously, he walked up to the barn door and peered in....the interior of the barn was dimly lit by a single lantern...he gasped. He saw a boy asleep in the hay, about 12 or 13, dressed in what looked like a flight suit. Next to him was a robotic machine, slumped over and out of power. The boy's legs and hands were tied to a post. "Oh my God...Hodges was right!"

He recognized the boy and the robot from all the photos and videos from their 1997 liftoff. The boy was Will Robinson, and the Robot B-9. And now here they were, stuck in this barn! At the same moment, he heard voices, and turned to see two men with guns walking in his direction. They hadn't spotted him. There was no time to duck into the barn, so he quickly slipped back into shadow, and around the corner of the barn into the darkness.

"Halt! Who goes there!" Tony and Doug froze and turned. A young man was pointing a rifle at them.

"Get your hands up!" The boy was only 17 or 18, and clearly frightened, his voice was quivering.

They raised their hands. "Take it easy son, hold your fire," Doug calmly said.

"What are you doing out here? Are you...Voltones?"

"No! We are not Voltones, we're Americans!" Tony shouted.

"Shut up! That's what a Voltone would say!"

Doug thought of something, and with a commanding voice, he said, "Put that weapon down NOW boy!...We are G-men!"

The boy's jaw dropped as he lowered his rifle. "You...you fellas are G-men?"

"That's right! We're from the F.B.I....We're here to investigate these uh...Voltones."

"Gosh! I never met G-men before...'cept in the movies."

"Come here, son."

The boy walked to them, sheepishly. "Gosh, I'm...sorry, I...didn't wanna kill ya and all..."

"It's alright son. Now listen...I want you to tell me what's happened here today."

"Well this here big ol' blimp came outta the sky, and them Voltones came out and started shootin' their ray guns around. Sheriff Grover, he caught one of 'em!"

"He caught one? Where is he holding him?"

"Gosh, I dunno...the jail I suppose. Anyway, those Voltones are holed up in that blimp of theirs, we're lookin' for any that might be sneakin' around."

Doug thought for a moment. "Who is the President?"

"huh?"

"Who is the President of the United States?"

"Why, Harry S. Truman of course."

Doug and Tony glanced at each other.

"What town is this?"

"Manitou Junction, Michigan, sir."

"How many people live here?"

"oh...about two thousand."

"What is today's date?

"October 18th...er, no 19th."

"What year!"

"why 1947, say, why're you askin' me all these dumb questions anyway?"

"Just making sure YOU aren't a Voltone, son."

"HUH? Me?" The boy's eyes went wide, "I'm no Voltone!"

"It's okay son...take it easy, here's what I want you to do...go home and get some sleep, and in the morning, tell Sheriff Grover that us G-men are on the case, and tell his men to stand down....can you do that?"

"Oh yes sir!"

"Good man! Now off you go."

"Thank you sir! Thank you!" The young man trotted off in the direction of home.

Tony looked at Doug, "G-men??"

"Yeah, why not? At least we know where we are now. And look at this thing! These folks are terrified...Tony, I recognize the configuration of that saucer... I recognize the design!"

Tony looked at the ship. "What do you mean, you recognize it?"

"Well, I attended a meeting at NASA about a year ago, and saw some designs of a prototype. A long range vehicle capable of hyper-drive. But it was all just theory. Something that couldn't readily be developed for at least another twenty or thirty years...but I saw the schematics, the blueprints. It was this!" He pointed to the ship.

"So...you think this vehicle is from Earth? From...the future?"

"Could be...but maybe we should check the sheriff's office first, see who they've captured there. Right now I'm exhausted, let's find find a place to get some rest."

Thomas had fallen asleep behind some bushes, now it was morning. He looked at his watch, it was 7:52. He looked around, groggy. He was beside the barn where he had spotted Will Robinson. He heard voices from within the barn. Quietly he stood up and brushed himself off, wondering what to do next. He knew one thing, he was starving, famished, so he made his way behind the barn onto an alley. From there he walked to a main street. There was little activity on the street at that early hour, but he noticed a diner, Molly's, so he walked in.

There were a few patrons already in there. The smell of bacon, eggs, ham, coffee filled the air which gave him a smile. "Hello hon! Sit anywhere!"

A middle aged woman behind the counter had greeted him, but a moment later her smile faded as she looked at him up and down. "What kinda shoes are those, son?"

He was wearing Nike cross-trainers. "oh...uh, these are Nikes...they're uh...a new kind of shoe."

"Hmph, kinda look like clown shoes to me."

She immediately realized her unintended insult, and her smile returned, she motioned him to the counter, "Come sit, what can I getcha?"

Thomas settled into his seat, "well uh, scrambled eggs and bacon, toast, and coffee please."

"okay, comin' up."

There was a man sitting at the counter who was watching the whole thing. He was eyeing him with a suspicious look. "I don't believe I've seen you before around here son."

"No, I uh...just arrived."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Just arrived? From where?"

"Uhh...California."

"California huh? So what brings you way out here to Manitou Junction?"

"I'm uh...out here visiting my uncle, since he's sick and all." Thomas' nerves were on edge, he should have been prepared for this, or at least Hodges should have advised him of it.

"ohhh, what's your uncle's name?"

"uh...Smith...Zachary Smith."

"Zachary Smith...hmm, I know some Smiths around these parts, but I never heard of no Zachary Smith."

Thomas was becoming annoyed and frightened by this guy's prying. "Well I guess he just keeps to himself."

"uh huh..."

His breakfast was served, and he ate it quickly and voraciously. The bill was only 85 cents. "Amazing"

"What's amazing?" the woman asked.

"Uh, this breakfast! It was delicious!"

"oh, well I'm glad you enjoyed it...85 cents please, hon..."

Thomas took out his wallet and a new wave of panic overwhelmed him. He had three 5 dollar bills and two 20's, all in the new design in which the presidents faces were larger. There were no Ones in his wallet which retained their old design, and he saw the waitress' eyes riveted on the wallet, waiting to get paid.

He calmly handed her a Five. "Thank you hon...Hey! What the hell is this?"

Thomas had to think fast. "Oh...it's one of those new five dollar bills, they just started printing them."

"Hey Steve, look at this bill!" She handed it to the guy at the counter.

"I knew it!!" The man stood up and pulled out a pistol, he pointed it at Thomas. "I happen to be Sheriff Grover, and you're one of them Voltones! You stand right where you are! Molly, get Cragmire on the horn, tell him we got one!"

"Wait a minute! I'm not a Voltone! I'm from California!"

"Yeah well maybe you Voltones already took over California! I knew it! From them weird clothes yer wearin', right down to the shoes!"

"Look, I'm not a Voltone! And those people! They're the Robinsons!"

Gunfire erupted from outside. They all turned to the windows. At that moment Thomas grabbed his plate and hurled it in Grovers' direction, like a frisbee as he dashed out of the door.

"Hey!"

Thomas felt a shot splinter the door as he ran out. He ran around a corner and kept running, away from the sound of the shots. He heard other shots, random gunfire, but he wanted get away from Grover as fast as he could. On a side street he halted in his tracks....he saw two men running in his direction, it was Tony Newman and Doug Phillips.


	7. Chapter 7

Ann watched the screen as Tony and Doug entered the alley alongside the Flamingo Hotel. "Ray, I can get a fix on them, but not on all four."

"Okay, re-calibrate just on Tony and Doug, but keep their location the same, and we'll try and bring them back to this time, since they're less than a hundred miles from here."

"Right...here goes." She energized the Tunnel and a series of sparks and small explosions erupted in the Tunnel.

"What's happening?"

"I'm trying to retrieve them, but something is interfering again!"

They watched as Tony and Doug tumbled onto the front lawn of a house.

Thomas ran as fast as he could, he just ran and ran...he had never been shot at before, the bullet that shattered the door was aimed at him! He was terrified that another bullet was about to strike him, shattering his bones that same way. Even though he was 48 now, with a baseball career that never was, he had kept himself in shape, so he kept running. He knew he could outrun that pasty sheriff. But where to? He had spotted Newman and Phillips, so they were here. Hodges was right about that too. After spotting them, he had cut to his right into an alley with a row of fences on both sides. He knew he would be visible. He could hear shouting behind him, but no shots. When he came to another street, he darted left, still running...good thing I wore these Nikes, he thought.

Tony and Doug had been exploring the town, looking for the sheriff's office. They were in a residential neighborhood, with tree lined streets. "Nice town."

"Yeah, right out of a Norman Rockwell painting."

"Doug, if that ship is what you think it is, maybe we should go back."

"We could, but I'd like to see this 'prisoner' of theirs first. Who knows, maybe it is one of these, Voltones."

They both froze as they heard gunfire. Several shots were being fired. "I guess they didn't listen to that kid."

Cautiously they trotted in a general direction towards the shots, along a side street that led to the main part of town. They heard another shot that was closer, around the next corner. A few seconds later, a man came sprinting around the corner running towards them at full speed. Tony and Doug were startled to see it was the man from Las Vegas, who they had seen with Hodges. At the same instant the man saw them too, and recognized them, and quickly cut into an alleyway.

"Halt!...Halt!" A middle aged sheriff rounded the corner a few seconds later. He was holding a service revolver and was already out of breath, running with great exertion. He saw Tony and Doug. In his confusion, he pointed the gun at them. "Hold your fire! We're the FBI!" Doug shouted in a commanding voice.

The sheriff stopped running and lowered his gun. "Huh?"

"Holster that weapon, NOW!"

The sheriff lowered the gun as Tony and Doug trotted up to him.

"That there was a Voltone! And he's gettin' away!...you...you fellas are G-men?"

"That's right"

"Well then why're you lettin' him get away?" They looked down an alley as the man rounded a corner at full speed, already a block away.

"Never mind about him, he's... What was all that shooting about?"

"I dunno, maybe they spotted one of them Voltones. I was having breakfast over there at Molly's, when that stranger came in, wearin' wacky clothes...when he tried to pass off some funny money, that's when I knew he was a Voltone!"

"So you just shot at him?" Tony asked indignantly.

"He attacked me!"

"Attacked you? How?"

"Well he uh...he threw a plate at me."

"You shot at him for throwing a plate? He was unarmed! What kind of a sheriff are you?"

"Tony"

The sheriff became suspicious, "Say...why are you stickin' up for these Voltones?"

Doug saw the need to take control of the situation. "Sheriff, we know all about these...Voltones. We know they landed here last night, we've been tracking them over at headquarters. I'm Agent Phillips, this is Agent Newman." He looked over at Tony who was giving him a look, as if to say, 'what the hell are you talking about?'

The sheriff was still suspicious. "yeahhh...so you're G-men, huh? Rick's boy said he saw G-men last night, but we didn't believe him. Reads too many comic books." He squinted, "Say, you fellas got badges? Identification?"

Doug had already determined that the sheriff was not an especially bright man. He leaned in and spoke softly, as if to speak in confidentiality. "No...we're uh...we're undercover. You see, our mission...our mission is to infiltrate these Voltones...make them think we're one of them."

"ohhhhh..."

"I understand you have one of them in custody."

"uh...yeah, yeah, Wilson caught one! It was a youngin'...along with their mechanical man! The fire chief over from Chickasaw Falls, well, he knew how to unplug the mechanical man. See, these Voltons are dangerous! The leader, he told Craig they were gonna blow up the town with them ray guns of theirs."

"The boy and that mechanical man, are they at the station now?"

"Uh...no, I think Zeb's got 'em in his barn."

"Can you take us there?"

The sheriff shrugged, "I guess so."

"Let's go...no, better yet, just tell us where it is. We should question him without you being there, he'll just get scared. Besides, I know you're a busy man."

The sheriff seemed flattered to be recognized as a figure of some authority. "Uh, yeah I guess you're right. It's three blocks up that way and turn left, ya can't miss it."

"Right, let's go Tony."

Thomas had run at least six blocks. He turned to see that no one was chasing him. Slowing down, he looked for a place to hide. He saw a large hedge along a fence and ducked behind it. Breathing heavily, his heart was racing, "What now?" He was trying to think of what to do. He took the time device out of his pocket and was ready to press the blue button...just go back. But then he thought again, the enormity of the fact that he was in another time, and the reason again why he was here. This was always a fantasy of his, to go back in time, but he never imagined it would be a nightmare, like getting shot at. Then he thought of Newman and Phillips, they were here too. He realized they weren't necessarily enemies. Sure, they were after Hodges and they wanted this device, but they were time travelers too. He should go seek them out....Then he thought of something else, the Robinsons! He could go back to the barn where Will was, explain to him who he was, tell him about the cannon, set him free.

He stayed hidden for almost an hour. He knew he couldn't wander around the town without being spotted, he needed a disguise. Slowly, he emerged from behind the hedge and walked along the sidewalk. Turning a corner, he saw a man sliding open a large door to "Len's Garage." The man seemed to be opening for business as he walked around the side of the building. Thomas ducked in to the garage and hid behind a Model A Ford. He saw a pair of mechanic's overalls, so he quietly started to slip them on over his regular clothes. "Whatcha doin' mister?" Startled, he saw a boy standing at the garage door.

"Are you Len's new mechanic?"

"Uh, no...no I'm just helping out today."

The boy was staring at Thomas' shoes.

"What kinda shoes are those!"

"They're uh, they're just running shoes."

"I never seen shoes like those before!"

"Yeah, well...they're a new kind. I got them in uh, California." Thomas finished buttoning the overalls.

"You're from California? Gosh! I guess they got lots of fancy stuff out there in California, with all them movie stars and all. You know any movie stars?"

"No, I don't know any." Thomas was glancing outside nervously. "Look, kid..."

"My name's Mitch!" The boy held out his hand.

Thomas shook it. "Well, pleased to meet you Mitch, My name's Tom."

"Glad to know ya Tom!"

Thomas had an idea. "Say Mitch, do you have a telephone?"

"Well, my granny has one."

"Do you think I can use it?"

"I guess so..." He looked perplexed. "Don't you gotta work here?"

"Well, not just yet." He looked at his watch. Mitch's eyes grew wide as he saw the watch. "Wowee! You sure got some swell stuff!"

"Ha! thanks...where does your granny live?"

"We live right over there." He pointed to a house down the street.

"Let's go!...oh wait, one more thing." Thomas went back in to the garage and grabbed a cowboy hat. He put it on, it was slightly large, so it hung low on his head. That was a good thing.

"Hey that's Len's hat!"

"Yeah...he said I could wear it."

Mitch laughed. "Boy, you sure look goofy."

"Haha! Well, I'm a goofy guy." They both started walking. Thomas watched for the sheriff or any other armed men. He was impressed that the boy was so trusting, willing to invite a stranger into his home. That would never happen in his own time.

"I'm not supposed to be out here," Mitch said. "Sheriff Grover said all us kids have to stay inside. On account of all those Voltones."

"Voltones huh? How do you know they're Voltones?"

"Well, that's what the sheriff says."

"They're not Voltones, Mitch. They're humans, just like you and me. They're from the future."

"Huh? The future?" The boy looked at him in amazement. "How do you know?"

"Because...I'm from the future too Mitch." There, he had said it.

His jaw dropped. "Aww go on!"

"No, it's true!...Those people are the Robinson family, they come from the year 1997. And me, I came from the year 2009."

"You said you were from California!"

"I AM from California...in 2009! Here, I can prove it." He digged through the overalls into his regular pocket and took out a quarter. He handed it to Mitch. "Look at the date." The boy examined the quarter and gasped as he saw the date on it...2006. He turned it over and over and looked at the other side. He saw the imprint of a peach. "Georgia..."

"In 2001, they started making new quarters with all 50 states on the back."

"50 states? There's only 48!"

"In about 12 years, Alaska and Hawaii will become states."

Mitch just stared in the distance in wonder. "Goshhh..."

Thomas looked at the boy and smiled. He reminded him of himself at that age, full of wonder and curiosity.

"So, what's it like in 2009?"

Thomas thought for a moment. "Well, it's not really too different from today. People do the same things, they live in houses just like these, go to work or school in the morning, come home, watch tv..."

"TV? You mean television? Mr. Maddox has a television, he lets us watch it sometimes...we just have a radio."

"Well, in the next few years, more and more people will have them."

"They say by the year 2000, there'll be flying cars and robots doing people's chores and stuff!"

Thomas laughed. "Well there's no flying cars. Oh they could be built, but it's too expensive. Actually the cars are pretty much the same, they just look different, and there's more of them."

"What about robots?"

"There are robots, but not the kind that walk around and do chores. The Robinsons have a robot, but it was especially designed just for their mission. Mostly, robots are in factories, doing repetitive tasks on assembly lines, that kind of thing. And there's animatronic robots. "

"Anima-whatsit?"

"Ha! oh you know, like store mannequins, only they can move around. But they're just machines, they don't think or anything. They were a big hit at Disneyland."

"Disneyland...you mean Walt Disney? The guy who makes cartoon movies?"

"Yeah! That's him...in a few years, he's gonna build a huge amusement park in California. Everyone will go there. It'll be an amusement park like you've never seen!"

"Wowww! I wanna go to California someday!"

"Well, maybe someday you will!"

"Do they have rocket ships going into outer space? Have you been to outer space?"

"No...I haven't been to space. But yeah, there will be rocket ships! And in 1969, we'll land on the moon! And in 1997, the Robinson family will lift off...that's who these people are, Mitch. They must have got caught in a time warp or something and came back here to 1947. See, I'm here to make sure they can take off again."

They had almost reached the house when Thomas stopped in his tracks. The sheriff had rounded the corner, about 50 feet away, walking towards them. At first the sheriff didn't recognize him. "Mitch! What are you doin' outside? I told all you kids to stay indoors!"

"Sorry sheriff."

Thomas was frozen with fear as the sheriff approached. "Thanks for bringin' him home, Len....hey....you're not Len..." The sheriff had a startled look, drawing his gun, "Mitch! Get in the house! Right now! Get your hands up you Voltone!"

"Sheriff! He's not a Voltone! He's from the future!"

"I said get in the house! NOW!"

Mitch backed away, then started to run to the house, looking back at Thomas.

"Mitch is right, I'm not a Voltone...there ARE no Voltones! Those people are the Robinsons!"

"Turn around!" Thomas turned with his hands raised. The sheriff grabbed his hands and cuffed them behind his back. "From the future...hah! Alright, start walkin', any tricks and I shoot, got it?"

"Yeah...got it." They headed towards the sheriffs office.

"Look, my name is Thomas Matson, and Mitch is right, I AM from the future. Have you seen two other men? One with a gray suit, the other a green sweater?"

The sheriff stopped. "How do you know about them?"

"They're time travelers as well, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips. I arrived with them."

"Newman and Phillips...the G-men." The sheriff raised his eyebrows. "I knew it! That's why they let you get away, they're Voltones too!"

"No! Voltones are from a comic book for Christ sakes! How dumb can you people be?"

"That's enough outta you! Get goin'!"

As they walked back to the sheriff's office, Thomas realized he had blown Tony and Doug's cover. They had helped him get away, and now he had put them in jeopardy, he felt sick. They entered the precinct where there were a row of cells. He was reminded of the Andy Griffith Show, only this time, Barney Fife was in charge. The sheriff uncuffed him, still pointing the gun, "Alright get out of Len's overalls." He took them off. "Turn around." What now? Thomas thought. The sheriff went through his pockets, took his wallet, his keys, some change, and the time device. Thomas panicked.

"What's this thing?"

"Be careful with that!...please."

"ohhh, some kinda Voltone gadget huh?" He turned it around in his hand and examined it, shrugged and put all the items in a wooden box. He opened the cell door, "Alright, get in there. As soon as we get all you Voltones rounded up, the Army will know what to do with you." Thomas remembered Hodges' story about the army coming. "oh no..." He sat down on a bench in the cell, and buried his head in his hands.


	8. Chapter 8

"General! I've got them again!" Ann was quickly trying to adjust the frequencies as the image faded in and out. "There!" They all looked at the image of Doug and Tony walking down the middle of street in an old neighborhood.

"It's an old town...Judging by those cars, looks like the late forties, early fifties. Can you get a fix on the location?"

"Yes...northern Michigan...October...1947."

"I don't get it. The Time Tunnel was designed to zero in on convergences of temporal energy, key moments in history. So far, that's always worked. Tony and Doug have been on the Titanic, Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor...at the Walls of Jericho for God's sake!...But Las Vegas? And now Michigan? What occurred in Michigan in 1947?"

Ann shrugged. "I don't know. Or what happened in Las Vegas or London? Other than man and that device he had. He must be it..."

"I seem to remember something." Ray said. "In 1947, there was a wave of UFO sightings. Remember the story of Kenneth Arnold?"

"Yes! He was that pilot who reported all those saucer shaped objects over Washington state. And that crash at Roswell, New Mexico. That was in 1947."

"Yes, yes." Ray continued, "well I remember a story about a UFO that landed in northern Michigan. They had captured some of the aliens! But after that, there was no more news about it."

Tony and Doug walked along the road towards the barn, where this 'Voltone' prisoner was being held. "What do you think Doug? Do you really think this prisoner of theirs is human?"

"Well, we'll find out soon enough." They approached the barn and looked in, there was no one in there. "Now what?"

They noticed a girl and a boy ahead of them, walking with a large scarecrow. The scarecrow was unusually rotund, and it had treads on the bottom. "That's a strange looking scarecrow." Suddenly a man with a rifle appeared.

"Stacy! What are doing out of doors? You're supposed to be inside!"

"Please Mr. Cragmire...Daddy says we gotta get this scarecrow out to the cornfield this morning, otherwise our crops will be ruined!"

"ohhh alright then, but hurry up!"

The kids went on their way, and the man turned and saw Tony and Doug. Partially raising the rifle, he walked up to them. "Who are you?"

"We're FBI agents. I'm Agent Phillips, this is Agent Newman. We're here to infiltrate these uh, Voltones."

"Ohh G-men huh? Well I'm Deputy Mayor Cragmire...I'm in charge of this town since the mayor is off on a fishin' trip...well uh, that is until the Major took command."

"The Major?"

"Yeah, the fire chief over from Chickasaw Falls...since he's a Major and all...besides, he knew how to knock out that mechanical man of theirs." Doug glanced at Tony.

"You have a prisoner, is that right?"

"Yeah! He's in that barn! With the mechanical man!"

"Well they're not in there now."

"WHAT?" Cragmire ran to the barn and looked in. "They got away!"

Thomas was laying on the bench in his jail cell, staring at the ceiling. The only other person in the sheriff's office was an overweight deputy whose only interest was reading the paper. When Thomas was brought in, the sheriff said, "I'm goin' back out, you keep an eye on this Voltone, ya hear?"

"yeah yeah.."

After the sheriff left, he looked over and said, "Now, you ain't gonna give me any trouble are ya, Mr. Voltone?"

"That's Mr. Matson to you." He scanned the room and spotted the wooden box that held his belongings, and the device. It was sitting on a table near the deputy. "Just look in my wallet there, it's got my drivers license!"

"Yeah and it's probably fake. You Voltones think of everything dontcha?"

The phone rang. "Sheriff's office...oh! okay sheriff, I'll be right there!" He hung up the phone and put his holster on. "I gotta go, don't you try no funny stuff Mr. Voltone!" Thomas just shook his head. He was now alone in the office.

Awhile later the door opened, "Hi Tom!" it was Mitch. He was holding a paper bag. "Hey! What are you doing here Mitch? You're supposed to be at home!"

"I brought you a sandwich, my granny made it." He handed him the bag through the cell bars. "Thanks." It was a ham and cheese sandwich, with crisp bacon, lettuce and tomato and just the right amount of mayonnaise. It was delicious.

Mitch pulled up a chair. "You're not really a Voltone, are ya?"

"No! I told you, I'm just as human as you are...same as the Robinsons."

"So you're really from the future then?"

"Yup."

Mitch leaned forward in his chair, "Tell me more about 2009!"

Thomas laughed, "Well, it's hard to know where to start...Well, like I said, it's not too much different from today. There's just a whole lot more...inventions."

"What kinda inventions?"

"Hmm, well there's cel phones, little tiny telephones that everyone can carry with them."

"Wow! Are we gonna go to war with the Russkies?

"No, but we almost did a couple of times! And well, we sort of did, but in other countries, like Korea and Vietnam. But we're sorta friends with Russia now."

"Gosh!"

"Also, there'll be personal computers."

"Uh...what's a computer?"

"Ha...well it's a box, about so big..." He gestured with his hands, "and it's attached to a screen, like a television set. You know what an adding machine is?"

"Uh, yeah! Mr. Adelman has one at his store."

"Well, this box is like an adding machine, but it can do a whole lot more! It can add and subtract, you can write books and letters with it, you can paint pictures with it, play games, watch movies, write to your friends...look up anything you want, like going to a library, all right there in that little box!"

"Wow!...what about other stuff, is there still baseball?"

Thomas' raised his eyebrows, "Are you a baseball fan?"

"Oh yeah! I'm a Detroit Tiger fan! Two years ago, my mom drove me and Mike down to Detroit, to Tiger Stadium, we saw a game there!...I wish my dad coulda gone...he got killed in the war."

Thomas realized this was just after World War Two. "I'm sorry to hear that Mitch."

He shrugged, "yeah...well mom was never the same after that anyway...she got sick herself a year later, she died too...we live with granny now." The boy became downcast.

In all he had been through, Thomas felt enormous sorrow and empathy for the kid.

"I was a baseball player."

Mitch looked up and brightened, "you were? What team?"

"Well, I was a minor leaguer, on the Spokane Titans, they're are farm team for the Dodgers."

"The Brooklyn Dodgers!"

Thomas smiled, "No no, the Los Angeles Dodgers. They moved from Brooklyn to LA in 1958. The Giants moved that same year too...to San Francisco."

"So you were a big league ballplayer?"

"No I wasn't...I would have been though, but...I got in a car wreck. And that was that."

"Golly...I'm sorry Tom.."

"Well, you just gotta live with the hand you're dealt with." He thought ruefully of the card game the night before. "Hey, Mitch...did anyone see you come in here?"

"Uh, no I don't think so."

"Look Mitch, here's the deal...the reason I'm here is to make sure the Robinsons take off again! The sheriff and his men are gonna blow up their ship, and I gotta stop them! But I can't do it in here."

Mitch looked confused and a little scared. "Huh?"

"You gotta let me out of here...the keys are over there!"

"Gee uh...I dunno Tom, I don't wanna get in trouble."

Tony and Doug were with Cragmire as they entered the barn. They searched around. "They escaped!"

"Maybe they were moved to the jail."

"Could be...we should get over there."

The three men walked toward sheriff's office, "Mr. Cragmire, have you spoken to any of these, Voltones?"

"Well, Zeb and Craig have. They kept sayin' they're humans...from the future. Ha!" Tony and Doug looked at each other.

"We have reason to believe that's exactly what they are!"

"What?"

"That's the information we have from uh...headquarters."

They approached the sheriff's office just as the sheriff himself was arriving from the other direction. The sheriff was startled. "Cragmire! Voltones!" He drew his gun and pointed it at Tony and Doug. "Get your hands up!"

"What are you doin' Steve? These here are G-men!"

"G-men nuthin'! Those are Voltones! I got one of them in there.." He nodded towards the jail, "...and he confirmed it!"

"Now look..."

"I said get your hands up now or I'll blast ya!"

Tony and Doug reluctantly raised their hands.

"Alright now, inside!" The sheriff motioned with the gun as he opened the door to the office. Just as the men entered the room they saw that the jail cell door was open. He glimpsed a bright shoe just out of the back window. "Hey!" The sheriff fired at the direction of the window but the shoe had gone. He ran to the window and saw Matson running around a corner. He fired again but missed.

In the commotion, Doug yelled, "Go!" He and Tony pushed past Cragmire and dashed out the front door. The sheriff turned and saw them run out. He started after them, but quickly turned back to the window, then turned back again. "Aww doggone it!"

Mitch had helped Thomas escape. When he got all his things out of the box, he heard footsteps and voices approaching from outside. "Come on Mitch, the window!" He opened the back window and Mitch climbed out first. "Mitch, where do they keep the cannon?"

"It's in front of the courthouse down the street. It hasn't been fired in years."

"Okay, you run home fast and stay there, I don't wanna get you in trouble. Thanks for letting me out!"

Thomas climbed out as Mitch ran home. Just as he was almost out he heard the men enter, "Hey!" followed by a blast. By that time he was sprinting around the corner, followed by another shot. Back to this again, he thought. He cut to his right on a back alley in the direction of the courthouse.

Ann and Ray were watching the whole thing on the viewscreen. "Try and get them out of there!"

"I trying to get a fix, but too much interference!" Ann looked up at the screen and did a double take.

"Ray...look at that!"

"Oh my God!"

General Kirk came over, "What is it?"

The screen displayed a large saucer shaped craft, sitting on the parking lot near a large building. People were milling around it, but no one seemed to want to get too close.

Ray stared with a strange look, "Amazing...General, I've seen this before..."

"What?"

"That ship...I've seen designs of a craft just like that one, at a NASA conference some time ago. It was a prototype of some sort."

"And you think that's it?"

"It's possible...could be a coincidence, but the design is very close." The General turned to his aide, "Get Dr. Evans at NASA on the phone."

"Yes sir." The aide turned and left.

Thomas peered around the corner from behind the courthouse, the coast was clear so he walked to the front of the building. Looking around the corner again he saw the cannon. There were a few people on the street, but no sign of the sheriff. He walked up to the cannon to inspect it. He had no idea how to disable it, but he had seen plenty of 'how things work' programs on the History Channel, one of them was about cannons. A secondary door to the courthouse was partially open. He peeked in to see there were shelves holding various tools and supplies. There was a box holding what looked like gunpowder charges for the cannon. They were a flat cylindrical shape, with paper covers. He had an idea.

Tony and Doug had raced across the street and down another side street. They stopped and hid between two parked cars. "We've got to get to that ship...find out who they are."

"It's about four blocks that way."

"Okay, keep down, let's go..." They moved quickly along the street. "I haven't seen Hodges yet."

"Maybe he's not here this time. That other guy is here though."

Thomas emerged from the courthouse and looked in both directions. About two blocks away he saw the sheriff and several armed men. He was forming a posse. He walked in the opposite direction and saw a man in a fireman suit, walking in an exaggerated gait, behind him were two men with rifles. They spotted him, quickly he took off down a side street. "There's one of them! After him boys!"

Thomas ran back into an alley that offered few places to hide. He noticed a stack of crates piled like blocks. Glancing up at the roof, he climbed onto the boxes and up on to the roof. It was a flat roof so he laid down as flat as he could, out of the line of sight from the street. He could hear the men running below. "Where'd he go?"

"I dunno, I saw him come this way. Zeb, go in that direction."

He heard the men run off in two directions. Slowly, he rose and looked down. No one was in sight. He got up and ran along the roofline. There was another roof about 3 feet higher, but it was close enough to leap over. He jumped and ran along that roof towards a barn that was even higher.

Tony and Doug rounded a corner and spotted a group of men in the middle of the street. Quickly they ducked back around the corner. "Now what?" Doug peeked around the corner again. "They're not looking in this direction. Maybe we can dash across the street without them seeing us." They dashed across to the other corner. "Made it!" Just as they started walking, a shot rang out and bullet shattered a window just behind Tony. "Down!" They took cover behind a pickup.


	9. Chapter 9

Thomas had jumped to the roof of the barn. This roof had a steep incline along the edge, so he carefully climbed up to a lesser sloped area near the top of the roof. That's when he saw it. "Oh my God!" He saw the Jupiter 2 in the lot. He remembered watching it lift off on tv twelve years ago, and now here it was! "I guess Hodges was right about everything!" As he walked along the roofline, he quickly ducked as he saw two men climbing up from a ladder on the other side. From his side of the roof they couldn't see him if he stayed ducked down. The two men had rifles. From his vantage point he could see Newman and Phillips running across a street and stopping at a corner. The two men were taking aim at them. Oh no! They're sitting ducks! he thought...He had to warn them somehow. One of the men fired but missed. They were only about ten feet away. Without even thinking, he charged the men and threw himself at them, like a football tackle. One man dropped his rifle over the roof as all three men fell and started sliding down the roof. Thomas was frantic. He grabbed hold of the other man's rifle and the man held it too. Thomas felt himself going over the edge, still clinging to the rifle. The other man holding the rifle was going over too, head first. "Zeb! I'm going over! Don't let go!" The second man had him by his feet. "I gotcha Bobby! Shake him loose! You guys are too heavy!" as he wrapped his own legs around an iron pipe vent sticking out of the roof.

Thomas was completely off the roof, hanging in mid-air clutching the rifle. The other man was half off, with Zeb holding his feet. He tried to shake Thomas loose by jerking the rifle back and forth, but Thomas held on. He considered letting go of the gun and letting Thomas fall, but then he would be unarmed and Thomas would have the rifle. So they both held on.

Thomas looked down and saw that his feet were still at least twelve feet from the hard cement below. If he let go, the fall would probably result in a broken ankle or leg. And besides, he would be vulnerable to the man holding the gun.

The sheriff and the men had heard the shots, "That way men! Let's get 'em!" They all took off running in that direction. Tony and Doug stood up, and around the corner they saw the men running towards them. Tony saw that the pickup had a key in the ignition. "Doug! Get in!" They both scrambled into the truck as Tony started the engine. He popped the clutch and the truck sped off. When the men reached the intersection, they saw the truck in the distance, turning right. "That's Frank's truck! Who were those guys in it? Them Voltones?"

"Most likely, who's got a car nearby?"

Tony made another right turn. Then he saw something, "What the …!!" It was a man dangling from the side of a barn, hanging on to a rifle another man was holding, halfway off the roof. "Doug, is that who I think it is?" They both recognized him at once. "It's the guy from Vegas! Go!" Tony swerved the truck over the sidewalk and drove directly beneath Thomas. Tony leaned out the window, "Drop! Drop into the truck! Let go!"

Thomas looked down and saw Tony, then looked up at the man holding the rifle. His expression was as terrified as his own must have been. "Come on! Jump!" Thomas let go of the rifle. The pickup lurched as Thomas landed in the truck bed with a thud. Tony gunned the engine and the truck sped off the sidewalk and onto the street. Thomas tumbled around as Tony made a sharp left turn. He rolled over to the right side of the bed. They were long gone before Bobby had a chance to orient himself with the rifle and fire a shot.

Tony sped along the road, nearly to the end of town, then he turned right onto a dirt road and drove behind a long barn. He slowed and parked the truck in a spot not seen from the main road. They all got out. "Who ARE you anyway?" Tony asked Thomas. He had a pained expression from his rough ride in the back of the truck. "My name's Thomas Matson. I know you guys are Tony Newman and Doug Phillips. Hodges told me all about you."

"Is Hodges here?"

"No. He's still back in Vegas."

"Well, what are you doing here? How do you know Hodges?"

"I never met him before last night. He just came and sat down to play blackjack, that's when I first saw him...and you guys." Thomas went on to explain all the things that Hodges had told him. He explained about the Jupiter 2, and the Robinsons, and the reason he was sent by Hodges; to prevent it from being destroyed.

Thomas took out the time device. "I guess this is yours, but I need it to return back home."

"Well, we'll figure something out." Doug said, "We should go back to the Jupiter 2, make contact with the Robinsons."

"They'll spot us!"

"We'll stay in the truck as long as we can, just get close. Come on." They all got back in the truck and headed back to town.

Ann and Ray were watching as Tony and Doug escaped in the pickup. Then the signal faded to static again. The General's aide returned. "Well? Did you get in touch with Dr. Evans?"

"Yes sir, but he seemed uh...rather evasive, sir. He claimed he doesn't have any knowledge of blueprints of that sort."

Ray turned around, "He must know! He was at that conference!"

"Yes sir, but...he says he doesn't know of any designs or blueprints."

"Interesting..."

"Why is he covering it up?" Ann wondered.

Sheriff Grover had started to organize a new strategy, "We need cars!" When some yelled, "Hey! Over here!" They all ran around the corner and saw Bobby dangling half off the roof. "Sheriff! Get us down!" Exasperated, the sheriff said, "Somebody get a ladder and get those boys down. We're wasting time!"

"Sheriff!"

"Now what?"

"The Voltones! They're getting outta their ship! And the fire chief, he's rounded up some men. They got the cannon! They're gonna blow it up!"

The Sheriff was startled, "Come on men! Let's get over there!" They all took off running in the direction of the Jupiter 2.

As Tony slowly drove the truck, they approached the sawmill, where the Jupiter 2 was. They noticed a crowd gathering. They got out of the truck and walked among the crowd. Tony looked around warily, "Where's the sheriff?"

"Looks like they have bigger fish to fry."

"Look! It's the Robinsons!" Thomas recognized all of them. They were huddled together near the ship, they looked frightened. A pile of their weapons was laying on the ground. The leader, John Robinson was negotiating with that pompous fire chief he'd seen. He also saw the cannon. A wave of nervousness came over him. This was the moment!

Negotiation seemed to have failed and John Robinson angrily walked back to the ship, and two men seized him. He heard the fire chief say, "You may fire when ready, gentlemen!"

People backed away. "Oh no...they're gonna blow it up!" Tony shouted.

Thomas held his breath as one of them lit the fuse. "please...please." he whispered.

The fuse extinguished and the cannon went 'fooomp'...a cannonball dropped out of the end and rolled on the ground about three feet. Everyone stood with their mouths agape. Just then, Thomas felt a surge of energy pass through him, like a mild electric shock. Tony and Doug must have felt the same thing. They all looked at each other. "Did you feel that?"

In the confusion, John Robinson quickly spun around and picked up one of his laser rifles as the two men, and everyone else backed off even further.

"So you think we're Voltones...Aliens...Well if that's what you think...then that's what we are. Let's just say we came. And when we saw that we weren't welcome...we left."

The Robinsons all climbed back in the ship with John covering them with the laser rifle. Then he went up the ladder. As the engines of the Jupiter 2 began to hum, the fire chief threw off his helmet, "Don't leave me here! Wait for me! Wait for me!" He ran to the ship and went up the ladder just as it was closing. With a deafening roar, the Jupiter 2 lifted off and went into the air, accelerating as it went. Soon it was completely out of sight. Everyone stared in astonishment.

As the crowd milled about, Thomas reached in his pocket for the device again, only to discover that it was gone. He panicked and looked around on the ground. Like losing a wallet, but this was a thousand times worse. "It's gone! The device is gone!"

"What?" Tony and Doug looked worried.

"Is it in the truck?"

"No! I had it when I got out, I could feel it in my pocket!"

They all looked around.

"Gentlemen!" All three of them looked at a middle aged man holding the device. "I believe you're looking for this." It was Robert Hodges.

"Hodges! What are you doing here?"

"I uh...just arrived!" he said with a grin. "You've done it Mr. Matson! You've done it!" He waved his hand in an arc, "Now we can ALL go home!"

"You mean..."

"Yes Mr. Newman, even you and Mr. Phillips. I was waiting in your hotel room, Mr. Matson. When the Guardian did not arrive, I had feared that you did not succeed. But then I realized I had miscalculated. I went down to the bookstore and looked at a couple of books. When I paged through them, I realized that you HAD succeeded!...by they way, how did you do it?"

"Yeah!" Tony said, "how'd you get that cannon to misfire?"

"Well, I remembered that cannons need a powder charge to be loaded first. I found a box of charges in a tool shed. I emptied the gunpowder out of them and replaced them with dirt!"

"Haha! Brilliant!"

"Hey Tom!" Mitch came running up.

"Oh! hey Mitch!"

"You did it!"

"Yeah I guess so!...Mitch, this is Tony, Doug, and uh...Robert." The boy shook all their hands.

"Wow! So all you guys are from the future?"

"Well, actually I'm from the past." Hodges said. "And now, I think I should be going."

"Hey, not so fast!" Doug said, "we need that device!"

"Oh not all Mr. Phillips. You don't need this anymore...your Time Tunnel works perfectly now."

"What?"

"You see, ever since this convergence, things have been a little out of whack in the Timeline. Your Time Tunnel worked to an extent, but not quite in phase, like a radio signal not quite in tune. You can hear the music, but with a lot of static, not clear and crisp as in a clear signal. But now, Mr. Matson has fixed it all! The Robinsons left, and all is now as it should be."

"Oh my God! General! I have them!" Ann was shouting with joy and nervousness. They all dashed to her station.

"You've got them?"

"Yes! No wavering, no interference whatsoever!" They saw a clear image of Tony and Doug on the screen, with the two other men. The General picked up the microphone, "Doug! Tony! Can you hear me?"

They all looked up. "General? Yes we can hear you! Loud and clear!" Others looked up too, in wonder.

"We've got a clear fix on you! Stand by!"

"Well, it's been a pleasure gentlemen!" Hodges was opening the device.

"Hey wait!" Thomas said, "How will I get home?"

"Oh you can return with them, through the Tunnel. Oh one more thing, you will find things have changed a bit when you return...for the better I should say."

"Well, how will I know what's changed?"

"Oh you'll know...you'll know. Those books I was telling you about? I bought them, I left them in your room as a...thank you gift." he said with another knowing grin.

Mitch looked at Thomas, "Gosh, I'll sure miss ya Tom."

"Well I'll miss you too Mitch, thanks for your help today, huh? You're part of this too you know!"

"I wish I could see ya again someday..."

"Oh but you CAN young man! about 35 years from now!" They all looked at Hodges. "Take a trip to Los Angeles then, go to a Dodger game...you can watch him pitch!"

Thomas was dumbfounded, "what?"

Hodges chuckled, "You'll know when you get home, Mr. Matson. And now, I must find a good place to...depart." He walked away towards the orchard.

"General!" Doug yelled into the air, "Can you hear me?"

"Yes Doug, I can hear you."

"Can you get a fix on Mr. Matson here? He needs to come with us!"

"Yes, absolutely!"

The folks in the parking lot, along with Cragmire and the sheriff were watching this exchange in total confusion. "Maybe they're G-men after all, with a new G-man communication gadget." They all gasped as Doug, Tony, and Thomas vanished into thin air.

The three of them tumbled through the vortex, but instead of tumbling to the ground, they found themselves walking. They were in the tunnel.

"Oh my God it's them!"

Ann, Ray, General Kirk and others all ran up to greet them. Ann threw her arms around Doug, the two men were greeted with hugs and handshakes. Even Thomas was greeted with an enthusiastic welcome. "This is the man that did it!" Doug gestured toward Thomas.

"What is this place?" Thomas said as he looked around him.

"It's an underground research facility," Doug explained, "This is the Time Tunnel, we're under the Nevada desert, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas."

"Las Vegas!...say, you think I could get a ride down there to my hotel?"

Ray chuckled. "I don't think your wing of the hotel has been built yet, son...this is 1968!"

"Nineteen..!..how do I get back to 2009?"

"Why, through the Tunnel, of course!" Ann smiled, "in fact, we have the exact coordinates to your hotel room. Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Thomas looked at Tony and Doug. "Look, sorry I ran from you guys...I didn't know..."

"It's okay" Doug said...Good luck."

"Tom! Thanks for getting us home." Tony said, and laughed, "now we can get out of these god damn clothes!" Everyone laughed.

Thomas shook hands with all of them and stepped back into the Tunnel...a second later he was back in his hotel room. "Holy Toledo..."

He saw two books on the table. One was a baseball almanac, and then he knew...he just knew...like waking from a dream that you have vague memories about, he became aware of memories. Of a long and successful career in baseball. He quickly rolled up his sleeve...no surgical scars! He opened the almanac and looked up his name in the index, he was in it...again, more memories... A wide grin crossed his face...

He picked up the other book. There was post-it note on the front.

"My dear Mr. Matson, when I found these books, I knew you had succeeded. Especially when I opened this one, and saw there are three new chapters at the end! This is my story. Good luck to you Mr. Matson, Well done! Sincerely, Robert Hodges."

He looked at the book and gasped. It was 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells.


End file.
